STORYHOUSE PRESENTS AN AUTUMN FEAST OF DRAMA, MUSIC, COMEDY AND CONVERSATION

A fantastic autumn season of shows is now on sale at Storyhouse – with more names being added to the programme all the time.

Storyhouse has been determined to maintain a wide range of events, activities and performances for Chester audiences throughout the last 18 months. 

And that continues as we look forward to an autumn season filled with drama, comedy, music, and a celebration of the spoken – and written – word. 

The new season opens on Friday, 27 August when favourite funnyman Alan Carr comes to Chester to try out new material on the city’s comedy fans. The evening will also include a support act. 

The evening is one of a series of nights at Storyhouse featuring some of the best-known names in the comedy world. 

Sarah Millican arrives with her latest touring show Bobby Dazzler on 28 and 30 October. If you want to learn about what happens when your mouth seals shut, how to throw poo over a wall and how truly awful a flotation tank can actually be then you won’t want to miss it. 

Storytelling, stand-up and subversion combine in one irresistible evening in the company of Mark Thomas on Friday, 29 October. His 50 Things About Us is a show full of songs, gongs, loot, tradition, wigs, nicking, statues, art and identity. 

Luisa Omielan follows a successful Off-Broadway run by returning to live performing in Britain and brings her hotly anticipated new show God Is a Woman to Storyhouse on Sunday, 31 October. 

The global pandemic has changed many things, but Jimmy Carr is still Terribly Funny as Chester audiences will find out on Wednesday, 3 November when he performs not once but twice on the same evening, while the multi award-winning Omid Djalili promises to bring back the Good Times on Friday, 5 November. 

Meanwhile comedy and drama combine when the hugely popular Mischief Theatre (The Play That Goes Wrong) returns to Hunter Street, this time with its latest stage show Groan Ups, running from 31 August to 5 September. 

Follow an unruly classroom of six-year-olds as they embark on a journey which takes them through anarchic high school teenage years and on to the challenges of adulthood. 

Groan Ups is followed by a pair of productions which celebrate the transformative power of theatre and storytelling. 

Bill Kenwright presents Willy Russell’s legendary musical tale of nature verses nurture, Blood Brothers, from 28 September to 2 October.  

And then Storyhouse Originals and Triple-C brings Sophocles’ deadly masterpiece Antigone to Chester in a thrilling new adaptation by award-winning poet Hollie McNish. 

The production will be staged from 13-23 October at Storyhouse – and will also be live streamed. 

Mercury award-winning singer-songwriter, folk song collector and conservationist Sam Lee presents music from his compelling new album Old Wow on Monday, 18 October. 

And the autumn also heralds the return of the Chester Literature Festival with a host of events being staged in spaces at Storyhouse during November. 

The festival opens on Saturday, 9 November when lexicographer and Countdown dictionary corner expert Susie Dent presents The Secret Life of Words. 

Join her on a journey into the world of words and the curious, unexpected and sometimes surreal origins of those we use every day – along with the fate of some that have become lost in the mists of time. 

Regency players Austentatious make a welcome return to the theatre on Monday, 11 November as part of a tour marking their 10^th anniversary and promise a riotously funny evening of improvised comedy storytelling, inspired by Jane Austen and based on nothing more than a title suggested by the audience. 

Stellar performance poet Dr John Cooper Clarke arrives on Tuesday, 12 November with his I Wanna Be Yours Tour. Expect a mix of classic verse, extraordinary new material, hilarious ponderings on modern life, good honest gags, riffs and chat – and a chance to witness a living legend at the top of his game. 

Join Radio 4 broadcasters and podcasters Fi Glover and Jane Garvey on Wednesday, 17 November to celebrate the publication of their new book Did I Say That Out Loud? 

The pair will be joined by a special guest yet to be announced, and together they promise to take modern life by its elasticated waist and give it a brisk going over with a stiff brush. 

Superstar food writer and TV cook Nigella Lawson invites Chester audiences to an Evening With…. on Thursday, 18 November to coincide with the launch of her latest book Cook, Eat, Repeat, a combination of delicious recipes and essays about food. 

And then on Saturday, 20 November, the Garret Theatre hosts an evening of pure escape with stories, jokes and poems courtesy of Henry Normal – The Escape Plan. 

The BAFTA-winning writer, poet and TV and film producer has written seven poetry collections while his screen co-writing credits include The Royle Family, The Mrs Merton Show, Coogan’s Run and The Parole Officer. 

New season shows which are currently on sale are all configured to play to a full audience apart from Antigone. 

But Storyhouse is retaining a series of extra Covid-secure measures including 100% fresh air circulating in both the theatre and cinema, extra aisles in the theatre to make it easier to move around the space, and a requirement to still wear a mask when you enter the building – and in queues, loos and on the move. 

They are also actively encouraging people to wear face coverings while our in theatre and cinema spaces. 

Storyhouse’s CEO Andrew Bentley says: “Storyhouse has remained probably the busiest cultural building in the UK throughout the pandemic, and we’re really pleased to continue that by moving into the autumn with such a strong and varied programme for both our loyal audiences and new visitors. 

“There’s a great line-up of big comedy names, a pair of brilliant touring shows, a really fascinating and diverse literature festival programme, a wonderful evening of songwriting and, of course, our own homegrown production of Antigone which promises to be a bold and ambitious new take on a Greek classic.”